The other day, Mickey and I went to a friend's house. This friend lives off a lake and had a lot of friends over. Most were sitting around talking and eating. But two little kids decided to try their hands at fishing.
I've never fished before but I know that it's a patient practice. I kept a watch in the corner of my eye to see if they would eventually catch a fish. Sure enough the little girl was reeling a catch!
It was exciting to witness... until it was time to skin the fish. I'm not a vegetarian or vegan, but I do believe that watching any living creature die should be a hard thing to witness. What happened next is hard to describe.
Now if you've grown up around hunting and fishing then you probably think I'm squeamish. And also, what does all this have to do with animal sacrifice and estrangement?
I'm glad you asked.
You see, witnessing the death of this fish was stark reminder to me of the animal sacrifices that God required in the Old Testament. In order to atone for your sins, you were to take a bull, sheep or another acceptable animal and offer it as a sacrifice. I always knew this was a ritual. But sometimes we don't see the color in the black and white pages of the Bible. Watching the fish being killed by rock, brought my mind to a priest slitting the throat of a bull. Seeing it's blood spill out on the altar for our sins.
The image made me sick.
And maybe that's the point of animal sacrifice...
Our sins separate us from God. They don't just affect our lives, but the lives of everyone around us. Our sins are so destructive that they claim innocent lives. We read about Jesus' sacrifice and it's so numb to us. But seeing the fish that day revealed a lesson I don't ever want to forget.
So what does all of this have to do with estrangement?
Our sins separate us. They aren't something that can be covered up with fancy words or lavish gifts. They won't be satiated with solemn spirituality or resentment and pride. When Christians try to force reconciliation without acknowledgement of the destructive behavior, we minimize something that God has been holding up- sin leads to death.
Eventually, the sin of our relational behavior will catch up to us. And in 1 out of 4 cases it will lead to relational death.
No amount of platitude will revive the dead. A dead body is still a dead body no matter how much we want to make it look pretty. A dead relationship is a dead relationship if both parties aren't willing to acknowledge the consequences of their behavior.
Sin causes death.
If we understood the weight of sin, maybe we wouldn't be so quick to force reconciliation. Our sin destroys innocent lives- ours and others. We should never try to gloss over this fact.
In fact, it cheapens grace when we don't acknowledge this. It also enables poor behavior. We so badly don't want to sit with hard truths. So we gloss over other people's relational experiences. We tell them it's their job to forgive and open their arms to an unrepentant person. We tell them their being judgmental or bitter for holding a person's sin on display. They tell us that love covers sin without remembering that love is also just.
Friend, let us not cheapen grace by pretending things aren't as bad as they seem. In reality, they're probably worse than it seems.
But grace sits in the tension. Grace allows wisdom to do it's work. Grace never runs from the truth but holds up the truth.
Our sins separate. They will always separate until we acknowledge our need for a redeemer.
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